Loot bags at birthday parties are an absolute must for most children, something I can attest to, having witnessed tears shed over loot bags. Since I’d rather see smiles – I go the extra mile to make great- looking loot bags. As you should know by now, I go all out for birthday parties, and go the extra mile to personalise everything to make them just perfect for the occasion. So I was happy to see some great ideas at an “Angry Birds” party a cousin recently had for her four-year-old son who proclaimed that he was “obsessed with angry birds”. There were all kinds of personalised items at the party, but my focus today is on the loot bags she made along with those I made for a recent party, to show how, with a little imagination and a little extra work, you can achieve something really cute and personal that your guests will find appealing.

Almost any idea you can conceive, you may very likely be able to find online by just typing those key words in to Google. And what you’ll find is a lot of inspiration and ideas to help you on your way to your project.

The theme for my party was planes, trains and automobiles, so I downloaded and printed clip art of this theme in the colour scheme I wanted and just cut them out, layered them with coloured cartridge paper and glued them to gift bags. I took the project a bit further by making “baggage claim tags” thanking the kids for stopping by, and included the name of each child to their tag.

My cousin Tami found a website that allowed her to download the faces of the angry birds and greedy pigs and she simply printed them, cut them out and glued them to coordinating coloured paper bags. You could also draw and colour your own faces and attach them.

You will need:

o Gift/paper bags

o Coloured/decorative paper

o Computer and printer

o Glue stick

o Coloured tissue paper (optional)

o Curly ribbon (optional)

These are some great and fun ideas to brighten any child’s party, so have fun with this one. Enjoy, and be motivated!